Former FSU quarterback leads Middle Tennessee State to epic upset over Miami
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If you're a Florida State fan, Saturday probably was a pretty good day for you. The Seminoles blew out Boston College, 44-14, while Florida and Miami both lost. FSU (No. 23) is ranked in the top-25 for the first time in four years and is the only remaining undefeated team in the state.
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For Blue Raiders head coach and Florida State Hall of Famer, Rick Stockstill, it went even better. Not only did Stockstill earn his first ranked win as a head coach on Saturday, he did it in dominating fashion to deliver a shocking 45-31 to the Hurricanes in Coral Gables.
Middle Tennessee State drove into Miami territory on the opening possession of the game but was forced to punt. On the ensuing play, Hurricanes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke threw an interception on his first pass of the day which the Blue Raiders converted into a field goal. Van Dyke and the offense came out looking for redemption but the redshirt sophomore was promptly intercepted again and this one was returned for a touchdown.
Just over three minutes into the game and MTSU already led 10-0. Miami had run three offensive plays, resulting in zero yards and two interceptions. The Blue Raiders entered the game as more than three touchdown underdogs. They led 17-3 at the conclusion of the first quarter and 45-24 in the fourth quarter before a late score from the Hurricanes. Middle Tennessee State danced away with the win and $1.5 million check that Miami paid for the matchup to occur all the way home.
"It's always fun to do stuff that nobody thinks you can do. Coming down here 26-point 'dogs and kicking their butt like we did, because it was a butt-kicking, there was no fluke to this, just really proud of our team," Stockstill said to media after the game. "The toughness that we played with. We were the tougher team here tonight, mentally and physically, and we got after them. We set the tone early, especially on defense. We never flinched, we never flinched and that's what I'm proud of our team about. Knocked these suckers off."
Prior to his time as a coach, Stockstill played quarterback under legendary head coach Bobby Bowden at Florida State from 1977-1981. A three-year letterman, Stockstill started for the Seminoles in 1980 and 1981.
The Florida native completed 250/447 passes with 26 touchdowns to 22 interceptions in his college career. He also added two more scores on the ground. In 1980, Stockstill helped lead the Seminoles to an 18-14 victory on the road against No. 3 Nebraska before returning home to defeat No. 3 Pittsburgh 36-22 the following week. During his final season at FSU, the program defeated No. 7 Ohio State (36-27), Notre Dame (19-13), and LSU (38-14), all on the road.
Saturday wasn't the first time that Stockstill has defeated Miami. Florida State defeated the Hurricanes twice while he was a member of the program, including a 31-21 on September 23, 1978 that occurred on the road. He also finished 4-1 against the Florida Gators while in Tallahassee.
Stockstill was elected into the Florida State Hall of Fame in 2019 and has a brick on the Legacy Walk. Naturally, his old teammates at FSU reached out after the victory.
“Nah, nah. I’m all Middle Tennessee, but I can promise you my phone is blowing up with text and whatever from my Florida State pals," Stockstill said. "I had a couple of my former teammates here tonight watching the game. A bunch of my former teammates and all that texted me before the game, ‘good luck and kick their tail.’ All that kind of stuff."
"I know Tallahassee," Stockstill continued. "I know they’re pretty excited about the mighty Blue Raiders kicking these Hurricanes’ tails because we kicked their tails and I ain’t afraid to say it.”
While the two interceptions in the first quarter took center stage for Middle Tennessee State's defense, they played well for the majority of the game. Miami rushed 38 times for 60 yards, an average of just 1.6 yards per carry. Van Dyke was benched in the fouth quarter after completing 16/32 passes for 138 yards with one touchdowns and two interceptions. It was the least amount of yards that the redshirt sophomore had ever thrown for in a loss.
"We didn't flinch and like I said, there in the second half when we had all reviews and plays, none of them went our way, nothing went our way. But they never flinched, they didn't blink, they just kept playing," Stockstill said. "Credit to our coaches, our coaches did a phenomenal job. I told the girl at halftime with ACC Network coming out, I said 'we ain't going to play scared. We're going to try to win this game, we're not going to run the clock out and all that stuff.' And then we caught a, whatever, a 98, 97 yard touchdown coming off the goal line after we stopped them down there. I'm really, really proud of our team."
Check out Stockstill's and Middle Tennessee State's full comments below.
READ MORE: Florida State crushes Boston College to remain undefeated
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